


A Secret to Keep (A Promise to Break)

by redFreckles



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: If Klaus wasn't an addict, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, and ignore the pseudo/incest implications of their relationship, if the writers can make Luther/Allison canon, then so can I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 19:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17945987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redFreckles/pseuds/redFreckles
Summary: "When Reginald Hargreeves opens the door to the crypt, Number Four is lying on his back in the middle, a smile twitching on his lips and a hand covered in blood at his side."Or in which Klaus doesn’t resort to drugs and breaks instead.





	A Secret to Keep (A Promise to Break)

**Author's Note:**

> the umbrella academy broke my writers block hell yeah

 

Between the darkness of the tomb and screams of the damned, time stops being relevant. Klaus has lost his grip on the minutes, hours, days he's been trapped in the mausoleum, instead falling into a strange void of space that feels like eternity.

There are so many of them. There are so many dead and dying and people in between and they  _ never shut up _ . All talking at the same time, all screaming his name, screaming for help, screaming for vengeance. Klaus has clenched his hands over his ears for so long that his arms are stiff with fatigue and his ears throb from the pressure. His nails are broken and bloody from his attempts to escape, the last of which a sad and desperate scratching at the walls in hopes of salvation. He’s passed the first stages of hunger, falling into the painful haze of dizziness and exhaustion that comes from starvation.

Hope of leaving the mausoleum has left him, leaving only fear and resentment towards the man who threw him in here without a second glance.

In the blind of the dark and the static of the screams, something in Klaus Hargreeves breaks.

——

When Reginald Hargreeves opens the door to the crypt, Number Four is lying on his back in the middle, a smile twitching on his lips and a hand covered in blood at his side.

——

Klaus comes back to the academy quiet and still. Ben can tell that the others are unnerved by him, even more so than they were before. They leave space between them and him when he walks slowly into a room, his eyes far away seeing something none of them will ever understand.

Ben’s hands clench so hard his nails leave welts in their wake. Ben has often imagined punching his father, overpowering him, taking him down. But watching Klaus become an empty shell makes him want to become the monster inside him and rip Reginald Hargreeves apart.

Klaus sits next to him on the couch, his fingers twitching every so often like a static shock, his eyes glazed over and staring in the distance. Ben’s the only one who still gets this close to him, and he makes a point to do so, glaring at any of the others too cowardly to be family to their brother. 

“They see everything you know,” Klaus says absently.

Ben looks up from the book he’s been reading, staring at his brother who hasn’t spoken since he came back with dad.

“What?” He asks, ignoring the swell of relief at hearing his brother’s voice.

Klaus hums, his eyes flittering around before saying, “The spirits. They have eyes everywhere. They tell me things, when I want to listen.” Klaus giggles and something about it unsettles Ben. “Time isn’t real, but not in the way we think. A cycle or a line? They say no. War isn’t coming but we’ll lose anyway, a broken cycle, a broken loop. Father is playing with fire, and he’s going to burn the whole world.” Klaus starts humming again, a ghost of a smile on his lips, and Ben can’t help the sinking feeling in his gut.

——

Klaus likes to dance with people that aren’t there. Or maybe they are, and Ben just can’t see them. Klaus spins around the living room, his arms outstretched as if to hold someone’s shoulders, his lips humming a song no one else can hear.

Ben likes to watch, likes to watch Klaus look the closest to happiness he’s ever seen him, likes to watch his siblings give Klaus a fond look as they sidestep him. His father has made his opinion on Klaus’ new hobby and feminine clothing loud and clear, but Klaus’ dismissive and kind smiles have the power to armor Klaus in a way none of his other siblings have learned; a way to stand on his own. 

The others like the new Klaus, like his nonsense ramblings and soft smiles and serene aura. Ben can’t help but resent them, can’t help but hate their sudden change in behavior towards Klaus. Ben knows better, knows Klaus is only like this because dad took something from him in those months of Klaus’ disappearance. Klaus can be this calm and content and ‘serene’ because he knows there’s nothing left of him to break. And dad knows it too.

It’s the only thing stopping dad from further training. When Klaus is already at the bottom of the barrel, what else can their father do to him?

Reginald got what he wanted anyways. Klaus’ powers have reaches a state that’s terrifying to most. The dead whisper the secrets of everything into his ears, and come to his aid in the midst of a fight. They materialize and dematerialize at Klaus’ whim, flickering like the lights they malfunction when they appear.

Ben loves Klaus no matter how he is, but he can’t help but miss the kid he use to know, the one that talked and joked and laughed, the one that would crawl into his bed because he was scared of the dark, the one that told their father off despite the consequences, the one that used to be Klaus but has been lost to the dead.

——

The latest villain gets a few hits on Ben, leaving gashes in his arms and sides from her sword and blood staining his skin. Mom stitches his wounds together with a smile and a hum, and for a moment Ben can’t help comparing her behavior with Klaus’ and the idea leaves a sick feeling in his stomach.

Klaus is leaning on the doorframe to the bathroom, a frown and furrowed brows shaping his face into one of worry. It’s not often to see Klaus worried these days, as it’s not often to see Klaus with much emotion at all.

“You need to be more careful.” Klaus says when mom leaves, the door closing behind her, “You could’ve been killed, dammit Ben!” Klaus shouts, for what seems to be the first time in months, and in this moment he’s more Klaus than he’s ever been since he came back.

Ben sighs and holds his palm out, and Klaus takes it, and Ben pulls him close, a familiar dance as easy as breathing.”I’m right here Klaus, I’m okay.”

Klaus presses his face into Ben’s shoulder and Ben can feel him trembling.

“You won’t be.” Klaus whispers.

Ben tightens his grip ever so slightly, “Why do you say that?”

“The spirits,” he says, “they feel you drawing closer.”

Ben stiffens, even though he’s not sure he understands. “Klaus-“

“You need to be careful.” Klaus repeats. “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.”

Klaus looks up at him, his face set but his eyes watery. “Promise me. Promise you wont leave me.”

Ben touches Klaus’ cheek, feeling the way Klaus presses into it, wiping a stray tear with his thumb.

“I promise.”

—-

The day Ben dies is a day of chaos. 

Allison and Luther had been on their own mission of taking down a drug lord when a bank robbery started happening downtown. It was only three men and the bank wasn’t large enough to have much money of note. Dad didn’t think too much of it and sent Ben on a solo mission to stop it.

Allison and Luther get home right as Klaus starts screaming.

They run into the living room as the lights start flickering, some even exploding. Klaus is sitting in the middle of the room, glasses and other objects flying around and shattering as the dead manifest around Klaus. Diego is standing in front of Vanya, arm outstretched with a knife in hand. Father shouts from the other doorway, screaming at Klaus to get himself together, as though that fixes the situation or makes it any better.

Allison steps forward before Luther can push her back and speaks, “I heard a rumor,” she says and her power vibrates in her chest, “That you calm down!”

The response is immediate, the objects previously levitating fall to the ground and the ghosts dissipate, leaving a destroyed living room and a slumped over Klaus in the center of it all. The room is still for a moment, the slowing of Klaus’ heavy breathing the only thing disturbing the peace.

Klaus lifts his head and stares at their father, previous tears not yet dried on his cheeks. “You killed him.” Klaus whispers. “You killed Ben.”

___

Klaus sits at his brother’s grave long after the rest of his family have left, letting the ghosts and the newly departed drown out his own grief with their screams.

“You promised,” Klaus whispers, sound lost to his own ears in the shouts of the dead, “You promised you wouldn’t leave me.”

“And I plan on keeping it.” A voice says to his left, the tone clear and the words distinct, somehow overpowering all the rest of the ghosts.

Ben stands as he did in life, hands in his pockets and a slight slouch in his spine. He doesn’t look like the bloody mess that he should be and Klaus’ heart aches.

Klaus stands, and Ben holds out a hand. On instinct Klaus goes to grab it only for his hand to go through and a sob works its way up his throat.

“I told you to be careful.” Klaus says, reaching into his core to pull out the powers inside him.

“I know,” Ben says, “I’m sorry.”

Klaus reaches for Ben’s hand again, this time making contact through his abilities, and Ben pulls him in and wraps his arms around Klaus. Being held by a ghost is cold and slightly uncomfortable but Klaus wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

“Stay with me?” Klaus asks selfishly.

“Always.” Ben says, “I made you a promise didn’t I?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I made a tumblr for tua if you wanna yell at me about these boys at deadrumors


End file.
